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Cleaning up wet supers

Looking for a better method to clean up supers after extracting.

In the past, I've just put supers out near the bee yard. There are two problems with this. First, it stimulates robbing. Second, the yellowjackets have a field day. Yellowjackets are a real problem in this area some years. Last year they killed around 15% of my fall hives. Once they taste honey, they are like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

One year, I put the empty supers on top of my hives. Problem is they didn't transfer the honey down to the main hive. Just consolidated it and sealed it in place in the super itself.

I'd like a method that could be used to "top off" light hives. Transferring the honey from the wet supers down to the hive itself.

Re: Cleaning up wet supers

Originally Posted by NasalSponge

Put them on top of your inner cover,

Put them under the brood chamber.

That covers the extremities of the hive. Can we discuss what advantages / disadvantages of both. Are they done for different reasons?
Vance, I agree with you but the OP was looking to top off a hive that might be light.

Re: Cleaning up wet supers

Originally Posted by Vance G

Just store them wet. The bees will move in faster next year or get a little feed when they need it.

I did that last fall with good results except my spring honey has started crystallizing 3 weeks after extraction. My spring honey from last year is still clear. I'm not certain if storing wet supers was a factor or not. Our weather has been crazy this year and I usually get my spring honey extracted before the tallow flow starts but it was early this year and I did not.

Re: Cleaning up wet supers

I put them away wet and after a couple of days on a hive the next spring the wax is perfect again and the honey is cleaned out. I have done this for years and my honey doesn't crystallize until around November...the same time as it did before. My honey doesn't crystallize in the wet supers either over winter, so possibly if yours does you may have different results.

Re: Cleaning up wet supers

Originally Posted by Brent

I did that last fall with good results except my spring honey has started crystallizing 3 weeks after extraction. My spring honey from last year is still clear. Brent

My understanding is (after reading a number of ariticals and threads here about the ultra purified honey that people are trying to smuggle in the US) that the time it takes to crystallize is propositional to the amount of pollen in the honey. Thus ultra filtered (not strained but filtered) never crystallizes (a bonus for shelf life), so honey that crystallizes quickly has a higher pollen content. good for flavor, nutrients and allergies, basically every reason fresh honey is so much better than pasteurized, ultra filtered store bought "honey sauce".

So it has much more to do with pollen content than it does treatment/stoarage of the supers the honey came out of.

Re: Cleaning up wet supers

Originally Posted by dadandsonsbees

I agree, small hive beetles would have a field day.

I am not too sure on that. Although my hive beetle population is down a lot this year I have had 4 brood frames with honey, pollen and bee bread in a box as a swarm trap since April. I don't see any hive beetles or wax moths in these frames. I am wondering if both these creatures need the controlled temps of an active hive to flourish.